The Committee on Government Efficiency and Customer Services of the Honolulu City Council met remotely on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 1:03 PM (HST) to receive a system update from the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) on the HL Build permitting platform. The meeting was chaired by Chair Desatus Tam, with Council Members Cordero, Nishimoto, Kia Aina, and Wire (who arrived later) in attendance. Director Don Takeuchi Apuna of DPP presented the update, joined by her staff. No public testimony was offered.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:06 PM (HST).
Aloha and good afternoon, everyone. It's one oh three p.m. on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026, and I call the Committee on Government Efficiency and Customer Services meeting to order. I'd like to welcome uh Council Members Cordero, Nishimoto and Kia Aina. Ummittee Vice Chair Wire is excused for the time being. Pursuant to Section 92-3.7 Hawaii revised statutes, this meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by interactive conference technology with the following procedures in effect for the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in person in the council chamber and remotely when each agenda item is taken up. As both English and Hawaiian are the official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 1-13 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olelo Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. Before testifying, each person shall state their name. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify following the the registered testifiers. When I call for anyone else standing by remotely, please utilize the zoom raise hand button to indicate your desire to speak. And for those of us uh on the telephone line only, please press star nine to indicate your desire to speak. Some friendly reminders and tips. Video conference from a quiet location if possible. If you're watching the proceedings on Olelo, please mute your television when you're called to testify. And when the timer on screen reaches zero, please conclude your remarks promptly. HRS section ninety two-three point seven requires all votes at remote meetings to be conducted by roll call unless unanimous. Written testimonies, including the tester's address, email address, and phone number will be available to the public as described in the posted agenda. And as a courtesy, please turn off all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. Uh, which is the only item on the agenda, which is the systemic update by the Department of Planning and Permitting on the HL build permitting platform. Members joining us in the council chamber, we have Don Takeuchi Upuna, the director of the Department of Planning and Permitting to give a brief presentation. She's joined by some of her staff as well. And for your information, the presentation is available online as Departmental Communication 594. Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for this opportunity to provide this update. A little over a year ago, DPP undertook one of the most significant operational changes in the department's history. We replaced technology that had been in place for left roughly three decades while continuing to process permits every day. The transition was difficult. We heard the criticism, but rather than retreat, we listened, we adapted, and we moved forward deliberately with intention, inclusion, and a commitment to making the system work. But today isn't really a presentation about the launch of H build HL Build. It's about what happened after the launch and what we've built since then. Because HL Build was never intended to be the finish line. It was the foundation for transforming how DPP does business. Oh sorry. This was the environment a year ago. There was frustration from applicants, industry, our own staff and council. There were questions about whether the system would work at all. I'm showing you this because I think it's important to acknowledge where we started. You can't fairly measure progress without remembering the starting point. And at that point, we had a choice retreat or work through the problems and move forward. We moved forward. One year later, we're in a very different place. The system has stabilized, performance and reliability have improved, and employees and customers have adapted to an entirely new way of doing business. That does not mean permitting is where we want it to be. What it means is that we're no longer spending our energy asking whether the platform will work. We can now use the platform to address the harder question. How do we make permitting itself work better? We've now moved from implement implementation into management.